The Minnesota Vikings are eager to get quarterback Teddy Bridgewater back on the field, especially now that he has a shiny new weapon in Mike Wallace. The team's excitement likely stems from Bridgewater's impressive finish to his rookie season. Over the last five games, the young QB completed 71.7 percent of his passes while averaging 246 passing yards per game. He showed the poise and accuracy of a veteran and was arguably the most impressive of the four rookie quarterbacks to receiving significant playing time last year (Blake Bortles, Johnny Manziel, Derek Carr being the others).
So what should Minnesota (and fantasy football owners) expect from Bridgewater in Year 2? It's a question that was posed to ESPN Vikings reporter Ben Goessling in his weekly mailbag.
"Oh, boy. I could get myself in all sorts of trouble here, couldn't I?" Goessling wrote. "As I look at a reasonable comparison for Teddy Bridgewater -- and I'm not making any hyperbolic statements about the Vikings having the same level of team success -- he lands somewhere between Russell Wilson and Drew Brees. Here are the stats for all three players as first-year starters:
Bridgewater (age 22): 259-for-402 (64.4 percent), 2,919 yards, 14 TDs, 12 INTs, 39 sacks.
Wilson (age 24): 252-for-393 (64.1 percent), 3,118 yards, 26 TDs, 10 INTs, 33 sacks.
Brees (age 23): 320-for-526 (60.8 percent), 3,284 yards, 17 TDs, 16 INTs, 24 sacks.
"Obviously, we heard the Vikings say all sorts of things about how Christian Ponder compared favorably to Brees and Eli Manning during their first seasons. None of it matters if Bridgewater doesn't develop, although I think the Vikings have a much better foundation with him running a Norv Turner offense than they did with Ponder running a Bill Musgrave offense. In Year 2, you'd like to see Bridgewater continue to improve as he pushes the ball down the field and cut down on the number of interceptions. If Bridgewater can hit receivers in stride the way we saw him do at the end of the season, I'd expect both his yards-per-attempt number and his touchdowns to increase, as receivers get some opportunities for big plays after the catch.
"For comparison's sake, here are Wilson's Year 2 numbers: 257-for-407 (63.2 percent), 3,357 yards, 26 TDs, 9 INTs, 44 sacks. Assuming Bridgewater winds up with a little higher completion percentage, can he wind up in the neighborhood of 3,100 yards, 22-24 TDs and 10 picks? The Vikings would have to be very happy with that kind of a progression, I'd imagine."
If Bridgewater can put up those types of numbers and the Vikings can produce a top 10 pass defense once again, then a winning season and a possible playoff berth are within reach. The Green Bay Packers are a good bet to repeat as NFC North champions, but the Arizona Cardinals and Detroit Lions are both susceptible Wild Card contenders from last year.
Will Bridgewater continue to develop and approach these benchmarks? We'll have to wait to find out.
